Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

Confronting an underperforming and insubordinate employee can be daunting. Of all the roles that supervisors perform on a daily basis, telling someone that they are either doing a poor job, or that discipline may be in order, can be an overwhelming experience. So overwhelming, in fact, that many supervisors will avoid confronting an employee until the situation has gotten well out of hand. Sometimes they will even transfer the employee to another functional area, which rids them of the responsibility to correct the behavior, but does nothing to address the problem. Furthermore, a transfer only burdens the new supervisor with the task of correcting behavior that has gone unchecked for so long that the problem becomes twice as hard to fix.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The key to effectively addressing subpar performance and/or behavior is to be consistent and prompt. Performance management is often the most difficult portion of a supervisor’s career. While confronting problems is often something we avoid, supervisors should be trained that the benefits of confronting problem employees far outweigh ignoring them. In the example provided, a supervisor of a mid-sized tech-support company is dealing with an employee who’s received numerous complaints from both customers and coworkers. The employee further shows signs of hostility towards others. A supervisor confronted with this scenario needs to act promptly and decisively. I prefer to invite the employee into my office at the first sign of trouble and confront them directly about their behavior. I would begin with the performance issues. These seem to be the least serious, considering that the employee has demonstrated hostility. Specific instances where his/her performance feel short need to be brought to the employee’s attention, and then provide them an opportunity to explain why they did or didn’t do what they were supposed to do. I would make sure that the employee has the proper training, and if not, I would recommend that they be sent to training. Sometimes a lack of training can overwhelm an employee, and this causes subpar performance and lashing out due to stress. Once the employee has had an opportunity to explain themselves, I would review, in detail, the company’s policy and/or expectations regarding each area in which the employee is not meeting the standards, explaining that this meeting should serve as a counseling, and that further instances of subpar performance will be handled by more serious means, including suspension, and/or termination.

Once I addressed the performance issues, I would deal with the behavior problems. I would explain to them that, unlike performance issues that can be addressed with perhaps more training, disciplinary issues will not be tolerated, especially any direct confrontation or intimidation of other employees and/or customers. It’s important to determine if outside factors are affecting the employee’s behavior. This would be a good opportunity to ask the employee if everything is alright, and if they are dealing with stressful life events, perhaps this would be a good opportunity to offer them the help through a company assistance program. In any event, whether the behavior is justified or not, the employee should leave the supervisor’s office with a clear understanding that underperformance and disciplinary issues will be address, promptly.